Early Book Review: The Sneezy Wheezy Day by Sharon Cramer

The Sneezy Wheezy Day by Sharon Cramer is a picture book from the Cougar Cub series. It is due to be released on January 2 2012. The story is about two small cougar cubs, one of which is feeling ill. Brother cub has a cold and his sister is worried. They go around the forest seeking advice from their friends. They get many suggestions, some of which are quite silly. None of the suggestions help, but finally a nap and some love from his sister works wonders for brother cub. The illustrations are cute and vibrant, with images that will make readers pause between page turns so that they will not miss anything.

I loved the illustrations and thought behind The Sneezy Wheezy Day. However, I think that the story and illustrations are aimed at the typical picture book audience, while some of the words were much more advanced. Words like saraphine and crystalline are used, which might confuse young readers and have adults reading with their children struggling to correctly explain the definitions of the words. The flow of the phrasing was not as smooth as I normally like, but the illustrations and theme of love overcomes the negatives in the text, still leaving me happy with the book.

I do recommend The Sneezy Wheezy Day to fans of the Cougar Cub series, and those that enjoy the work of Sharon Cramer. Children that like to delve deeply into the illustrations rather than pondering the words too closely will certainly enjoy this story. My children liked looking for the bonus creature on each page and telling their own additions to the story in relation to the illustrations. Those with independent readers that get easily frustrated with harder vocabulary, or readers that like to dissect the text might want to skip the book for now.

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